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Today’s Daily Blog Watch Round-Up of matters that have attracted the attention, assessments, and articulations of this country’s leading bloggers…
NZ Left Blogosphere
Mickey Savage on Waitakere News laments, Novopay, Novopay and says,
“I have spent a few hours reading the Report on the Ministerial Inquiry into Novopay and I must say that it is one of the most chilling reports I have ever read. The statements are so stark, but when you think of the utter mess that Novopay has become, the decision to go live veers on the insane..”
Mickey writes more – and folks, it’s a Must Read to get an insight what went wrong. Check it out. Arm yourself with knowledge.
Coley Tangerina presents The first couple of minutes of this show EXACTLY how accepted casual sexism is in NZ Parliament.
John Banks. Soon-to-be-ex-MP.
Also on Coley’s blog, this endearing item.
Marty on mars2earth takes a well-deserved swipe (or kick up the arse!) at Labour-leader, David Shearer in the terror of shearer. Marty condemns Shearer’s remark about the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election,
“We will organise, mobilise and terrorise our political opponents.”
Considering Shearer’s past role at the UN where he had to deal with populations terrorised by warlords; dictators; warring factions; gangs; natural disasters, etc – one would have thought that promising to “terrorise” your political opponants is unacceptable to put it mildly. It’s the sort of thing that a Right Wing Nut Job would threaten.
As Mana candidate, Te Hamua Nikora, said,
“Tuhoe haven’t forgotten that it was a Labour Government that raided their homes in Taneatua and Ruatoki in 2007. Tuhoe know that the call to raid their homes by our police came from Labour. It’s another sad legacy on the part of the Labour Party when it comes to Maori rights.”
Bad form, Mr Shearer.
Gordon Campbell on the latest Novopay revelations – Gordon writes,
“All of it was an operational failure within the Education Ministry and the State Services Commission, folks. Yes, according to the Novopay ministerial inquiry, the buck for the flawed teacher pay system rests entirely with the bureaucrats, and not at all with the three Ministers who signed off on Novopay. Those three government Ministers – Hekia Parata, Bill English and Craig Foss – have been completely exonerated by the inquiry headed up by Maarten Wevers, the former head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.”
Well, well, well… what a coincidence; three senior ministers exonerated by the former head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
And how unusual – not only are the three ministers utterly blameless – but responsibility lies elsewhere. With two civil servants.
Gosh! National blaming someone else?
That’s never happened before.
What has happened before, though, is ongoing high Maori unemployment. Read this fascinating blogpost by Symbolism vs substance: is the Maori Party doing anything?
There’s an intriguing exchange reported by Morgan between Labour’s Rino Tirikatene, and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Dr Pita Sharples. Eye opening stuff.
On Ideologically Impure, QoT indulges in a Game of Thrones spoiler rant. I haven’t followed the series, so it’s all alien to me… but fans of the show may appreciate her commentary. (Warning, Will Robinson – Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!)
Back to Reality, and QoT proclaims; Fuck the bludgers. QoT is referring to an execellent piece in The Daily Blog by John Minto, where he’s had a gutsful of low-life bludgers. QoT returns to the original Herald article that prompted John’s piece, and tears it apart, BS by BS.
Read how QoT deconstructs the arguments of those who attempt to justify tax evasion. Because, according to Right Wingers, it’s only “bludging” if you’re poor and powerless. If you’re a “High Net Worth Individual (translation; a rich parasitic prick) then you’re “minimising your tax exposure”.
Wankers.
Idiot Savant’s No Right Turn rips a new one for the government of Turkey. As Savant points out, beating, injuring, and killing protesters is not how democratically elected governments behave. Savant condemns the Turkish government and calls for it to be over-thrown.
France dumps disconnection – specifically the three-strikes disconnection for so-called internet copyright violations. Savant reckons it is high time New Zealand followed suit and repealed our own version of the “three strikes law” for alleged copyright violations.
Damn straight.
Meanwhile, connected with The Blogpost of the Day, Scott at Imperator Fish reveals; It’s me! He’s referring to Farrar and Slater’s vile attack on ‘Bomber’ Bradbury last night. Scott is pissed off… and rightly so. Read why.
On this issue – keep an eye open for an up-coming blogpost on this issue. A Well Known Blogger has looked into Farrar and Slater’s cheap attempt at character assassination and has come up with some interesting links.
The Jackal’s ‘hiatus’ has hopefully been short-lived with these two blogposts;
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Lusk lies and leaks – a look at the smear campaign by Slater and Farrar against left-wing blogger and activist, Martyn Bradbury. The Jackal looks at past campaigns, hidden agendas, and undeclared conflixcts of interest. The response of Slater’s Mini-Me, David Farrar, has been an attempt to destroy Martyn’s reputation.
The Jackal writes,
“In response to these revelations, the best Slater and Farrar can come up with is to manufacture a controversy about a left wing activist, Martyn Bradbury. They claim he also has a conflict of interest because he works for the Mana party, something he’s already openly declared. The difference is that Bomber isn’t working against people within the Mana party, whereas Lusk et al clearly are working against the long-term interests of the National party… That’s why they’ve been labelled a threat
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Lusk is claiming to have lost his voice and has made no public comment about his anti-democratic campaigning. Instead, his business partner Cameron Slater states on his behalf that he will be “ecstatic” with the extensive media coverage, as if losing all credibility is a good thing.”
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In Jackal’s post The week that was, he writes,
“What a week to have a break from blogging.”
Indeed, mate. All manufactured by the very, very secret W.K.B. (Well Known Bloggers) to bring you back to the fold. Chur, bro’.
The Civilian advises that New Zealand’s Got Talent to add question mark to title. Makes perfect sense when you think about it.
That’s the best thing about good satire – it’s not that far removed from reality…
And onto The Standard,
- The OECD report leans left, writes
Bit of a shame for those patriotic New Zealanders who bought shares only to keep them out of the hands of foreign and/or corporate investors. Their hearts were in the right place.
- Old Boys Club – John Banks on Youtube (same vid as Coley Tangerina’s above). Check out the first few minutes. His nasty, sexist streak is repulsive. Thankfully, he’ll be gone from Parliament soon enough. The man is a disgrace.
- Charter schools have no future – the Greens and Labour have announced that the legislation will be repealed.
Next question – who will be follish enough to invest their money in a Charter School now that the Labour-Green-Mana government-in-waiting will be pulling the plug.
Here’s a hint – go invest your cash in Mighty River Power shares instead. (snigger) Or go put them on Skycity pokuies. The results will be the same.
- NZ Power verdict is in – writes
See? Everyone is happy.
I live to serve…
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On The Daily Blog
Racism to the Rescue: The NZ Right’s Pathway to Power – Chris Trotter writes,
“Morgan Godfrey’s insight lies precisely in identifying the absence of this sort of “movement” sensibility from Lusk’s strategy papers. If the “fiscal conservatives’” ultimate objective is a radically down-sized government; and their principal opponents the defenders of “big government”; then what kind of “movement” is available to them?”
An interesting and clever analysis of almost every political factor in New Zealand – and how it all inter-relates to Lusk’s attempt to build a mainstream Conservative movement in this country.
My only question – are we giving too much prominence to this RWNJ?
Declaration – David Farrar’s Darth Vader helmet is too big for me – Martyn Bradbury writes,
“I clearly point out that I am a Political consultant for left wing-organizations in my disclosure and go into my involvement in setting MANA up. Matthew Hooton charted that progress on forming MANA in the NBR and I even told David Farrar that MANA would launch on Backbenchers so this sudden howling of ethics is a tad twee.”
Methinks there’s more to this issue than some random blogpost by Farrar, attacking Martyn. The Right are striking back in a frenzy as they realise that they will be thrashed at next year’s general election. A small cabal of rightwing bloggers are targetting leftwing pundits and bloggers.
Martyn was the first.
He won’t be the last.
Will Tau Henare Turn The Firing Squad On The Greens? – Aaron Hawkins writes,
“The real problem isn’t what Key says, base and offensive as it often is, it is the signal that his turn of phrase is okay. He normalises casual bigotry in a dog whistle to his reactionary support base, as cynical and crude a form of electioneering as you could find.”
The standard of political discourse has become nastier and more personality focused. As if the virulence of the internet is seeping into every day real life. No wonder so many are switching off politics, writes Aaron.
Patience and generosity mark Tuhoe settlement – John Minto writes,
“It’s important to keep this all in perspective by recognizing that even with the Tuhoe settlement added, the TOTAL amount spent by the government on ALL treaty settlements so far is still less than the amount John Key’s cabinet spent bailing out the wealthy investors in South Canterbury Finance.”
John’s analysis and sharing of experiences is almost poetic in it’s content. It’s a gentle look at the struggles and successes of the Tuhoe people. If you’re white; middle class; and thought Nisbet’s crappy cartoons were “ok” – have a read of this. I promise it is totally non-threatening – but nevertheless insightful.
Terrorizing their opponents??? Did Labour just lose Ikaroa-Rawhiti? – Martyn Bradbury writes,
“The use of ‘terrorize’ as the word to describe how Labour plan to fight the by-election must be a mistake and the worst strategic blunder since Rodney Hide said to David Garrett, “Hey, wanna be an MP?”.”
More on Shearer’s godawful comment about “terrorising” Labour’s political opponants in Ikaroa-Rawhiti.
The only question remaining to be asked – was that ‘brain-blast’ Shearer’s doing – or have the Nats inserted an operative into Labour’s strategy team? Because honestly – that was just the dumbest thing to say.
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Blogpost of the Day
Blogging and consulting – an issue discussed by Pablo on Kiwipolitico, commenting on Farrar and Slater’s nasty and slimy attack on Martyn Bradbury. Pablo writes,
“The blogging right (and some journalists) seem to be going after Bomber for two reasons. One is that, for rightwing bloggers the Lusk/Slater revelations needed a diversion, or at least a modicum of balance. Bomber has made plenty of enemies on the right (and some on the left), so he is an easy target. That is particularly so for point number two: his consultancy fees for Mana are ultimately paid for by the NZ taxpayer. The right blogosphere has all but choked on that thought and some have suggested a conflict of interest on Bomber’s part.”
Make no mistake. The closer we get to the next election, the more personalised and vicious the Right will become. The gloves are off.
Pablo’s verdict?
“People may disagree with Bomber’s views on political matters to the point of questioning his credibility, and many might wonder why anyone would pay for Bomber’s advice. But the issue of credibility and paying for sage advice is between the client and Bomber, and in Mana’s case, the party seems content with the arrangement. There is no conflict of interest. There is no hidden agenda. That is the end of the story. As a private contractor Bomber does not have to reveal anything about his consulting relationships, much less on his blog or in his other media work. In this he is no different from Brian Edwards, Bill Ralston or others who give privileged (and private) advice to clients in parallel with their public writing and commentating. Again, this is no big deal.
In the end, this episode strikes me as a rightwing beat up that is designed to deflect attention away from National’s internal divisions by targeting a convenient leftwing object of contempt. In other words, it is all about politics rather than professional ethics. That seems natural, because if it were the other way around some of those leading the charge against Bomber would not have a leg to stand on.”
Got it in one, Pablo.
Slater, Farrar – time to slither back to your burrows.
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Action of the Week
Our clean green delusion:
New Zealand’s untold environmental reality
What: Guest speaker, EHEA AGM
When: Monday, June 10, 8PM
Where: St Albans Church Hall, Eastbourne (Lower Hutt)
Dr Mike Joy is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at the Ecology group-Institute of Natural Resources Massey University Palmerston North. He is an outspoken advocate for environmental protection in New Zealand and has received a number of awards including “ecology in action” award from the NZ ecological Society, and an “old blue” award from the Royal Forest and Bird protection Society, environmental New Zealander of the year from North and South magazine and this year he was voted person of the year by the Manawatu Evening Standard.
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Right Wing Nuttery of the Day
Feeding kids in school is the answer? You’d have to be brainless – by Narelle Hensen. Who is Narelle Hensen? Well you may ask.
Check this out, on our very own Daily Blog; The Right has a new media voice
While you’re at it, feel free to drop a comment after Hensen’s piece. You’ll feel the better for it.
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Non Racist Cartoon of the Day
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~ Joe Blogger
~ “The Daily Blog Watch” Editor, Imbiber of Fine Sugary Drinks, & Cat Herder
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~oo~
